PONTY - GRAPPELLI

1. "Bowing-Bowing" (6:28) right from the get-go the sound palette of this band (and recording) has much more in common with the Jazz-Rock Fusion mainstream than Jean-Luc's previous albums. The sounds, structure, chords and melodies all have the warm feel of a peak-era Jean-Luc Ponty composition. Great support from all of the support crew- -especially Tony Bonfils on electric bass--though Maurice Vander's piano is almost saccharine sweet and André Ceccarelli's drum play is mixed too far in the back (and he plays much harder than is necessary). (9/10)

2. "Golden Green" (4:42) the melodies explored by Jean-Luc and Stéphane here feel like something from a stage musical: they're quite swinging and sweeping and melodramatic in that oh-so romantic way. Quite a lovely uptempo song. (9.25/10)

3. "Memorial Jam For Stuff Smith" (6:54) Stuff Smith was a pioneering jazz musician--a violinist--who also recorded at Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer's studio in the Black Forest but who died a few years before this recording--and artist that both Jean-Luc and Stéphane had worked with. The music is great with more traditional cabaret & stage musical styles being used by all of the instrumentalists. Though there are electrified instruments being used, they sound more like a modern "rock orchestra" in a pit in front of the stage supporting the stage players. Some really nice solos and play here, and even some cool tempo and motif shifts. (13.5/15)

4. "Violin Summit No. 2" (9:56) Shaft-like cymbal play, funky bass and electric piano, and electric guitar "power chords" support the soloing of the two violinists. But then around 1:28 Philip Catherine's blistering electric guitar run signals the band to switch into more of a Soul/R&B rhythm pattern for the motif to support Stéphane's upcoming solo. At 3:19 everybody makes way for Philip to again assert himself with some dirty/raunchy electric guitar soloing. His tone is very much akin to something Ernie Isley is using in his 3 + 3 solos. At the five minute mark Jean-Luc shows up with his fully- electrified and wah-wahed violin for some solo time. The band's R&B funk beneath is so fluid and engaging--and Philip Catherine's lead rhythm guitar play just beneath Jean-Luc is wonderful! Philip's rockin' chord play takes us out of the electric violin solo and then sets us up for what turns out to be an unusually long (for Jean-Luc) solo is given to drummer André Ceccarelli in the eighth and ninth minutes. (90 seconds!) The band then returns to the opening motif for the final 90 seconds. Now this is some great First Wave Jazz-Rock Fusion! (18.75/20)

5. "Valerie" (7:00) a very swinging electrified jazz tune--there's almost a Latin/Smooth Jazz quality to the rhythm pattern--while Stéphane, Philip, and Jean-Luc share the introduction of the lead in a three-musician weave over the first minute. Maurice and Tony are great with their electric piano and electric bass, keeping the song moving at a very nice country-road cruising speed for the light and fresh air solos being expostulated by the trio up top. Again, this is very evolved "First Wave" Jazz-Rock Fusion: some of the first to sound like so much of the Smooth Jazz fare that will take over in the second half of the decade. (One more time I get this distinct, nagging feel that Jean-Luc has "borrowed" someone else's melody to build his song over.) (14/15)

Total time 35:00

After hearing the MPS-produced previous to this one I must admit to being (pleasantly) shocked at the music on this album. At the same time, I'm glad Jean-Luc was able to try out a more loose and dissonant jazz-rock (and get it out of his system) with 1972's Open Strings, but I am quite grateful to hear the more melodic and elegant music here on this album that will become his trademark over the next 20 years. I'm also quite curious to know what 65-year old Stéphane Grappelli thought of the music he was being asked to participate in creating as it must have been quite different from anything that he'd done before. Also, this album contains some of the most impressive Philip Catherine play I've ever heard. And who is and whatever happened to Tony Bonfils?

A-/five stars; a fresh and wonderfully upbeat minor masterpiece of top-notch whole-band performance of First Wave Jazz-Rock Fusion. HIghly recommended to any and all lovers of J-R Fusion.